Does anyone have any experience hunting quail in Arizona? I have in-laws in Phoenix and I am always looking for new experiences for myself and my shorthair. I have heard there is some decent hunting near Tucson but not sure of public land availability. Any insight would be appreciated.

Yep. I've spent many a day hunting in the deserts outside of the PHX metroplex - mostly to the west, but some south and a little bit east that wasnt' res land.

I can't help you much on the Tucson area - never really made it down there much when I lived there. I always intented to go hunt ducks at Piccacho Peak reservoir, but, it was always dry when I lived there.

Where at in PHX are your parents?

My sister-in-law and her family live in Chandler. I am open to hunting the PHX area but it was my understanding that the Tucson area was considerably better. I just wasn't sure how the public land access worked nor am I really up to speed on where to most likely find desert quail. I have been to PHX once so everything I know is from books/articles.

If you can find the places-- Mearns quail around Sonoita is really great.

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/hunting_upland-birds-hunting_rm_1209_02/

Might be a place to start.

I hunted one time with a friend near Sierra Vista and it was gorgeous, but I don't know exactly where we were. I'd look for public land near Sierra Vista, Wilcox or Tombstone. It's beautiful there.

There is beaucoup public land in AZ, so finding a place to hunt isn't hard at all.

The biggest PITA is to make sure you are on the right kind of land - State Trust land is good to go, BLM is if you have a valid hunting license and permit. You'll need to look at the regs (they seem to change every year, so look it up for the most current stuff) and make sure you have the documentation you need.

One thing that his a major headache is that there is no designation out in the desert as to what land you are on, so a GW could give you a ticket if you were inadvertently on the wrong type of land. It is very, very, very rare that you'll ever run into a GW, and even rarer that one would ticket you for such an offense, but keep in mind it is out there.

As far as where to hunt, I had good luck on the NW side of town around the White Tank Mountains area, on over west to Flat Iron Mountain, and then further north up towards Lake Pleasant. Those areas are generally scrub brush, which provided a lot of cover to both dove and quail, and were extremely vast so they had plenty of places to feed and water.

On the Southeast side of town, you have to be more careful because of the SRPMIC and South Moutnain reservations. Hunting on res land without the proper permits is bad ju-ju. There was some pretty good dove hunting near the San Tan range off of 87, but I don't have a whole lot of experience outside of a couple of hunts here and there.

A good website to ask specific questions is Arizona Shooting.

I've been looking into this some (but I'm just getting started) as a possible location for my next big travel hunt in two years. Generally speaking about 3/4 of the state is Gambel's Quail habitat, with much smaller pockets of blue (scaled) quail and Mearn's quail.

Mearn's is the must-see-tv hunt for me. Very rare, and only located in a few small spots in the US. Most of that East and Southeast of Tucson. They're also the only quail in Arizona that isn't like to run like hell at the first sign of dogs. I've never hunted gambels, but blue quail are damn sure runners, and Gambels are supposed to be even worse, compounded by the fact that they live in very open desert country. The Mearn's are found at slightly higher altitudes in grassier oak flats and they apparently hold very tight and dogs can work them well. But their numbers are much lower than the Gambels.

If what I've read, and experienced with the valley quail two weeks ago holds true, look for good water sources, and then radiate out from there. Most of the coveys in desert country hold pretty tight to some water, and then will feed up to a half-mile to a mile away from there. but that water will be their epicenter.

Good Mearns spots seem to be like good public waterfowl spots. No one will give up their secret and if they find out there buddy has told someone he's likely to be murdered and dumped in the desert. Can't say I blame them, but that means I have to keep looking to find good info on Mearns.

I'm guessing those valley quail and the Gambel's quail are pretty closely related, right? Both have the same little top-knot feathering.

they look pretty similar, for sure.

Knock all of those off the list, and you've just got Valley Quail left (of the quails).

I shot valley quail 10 days ago, dork.

Mis- typed. Mountain Quail. The one with the long topknot and large rust colored scales on their breast.

It's on the list. Oregon, here we come. (At some point. )

I really appreciate the advice given so far.

Does anyone have a recommendation on dog boots? Mine has never wore them and I am sure it is going to be a circus when she puts them on.

Lewis dog boots. It's the beginning and the end. Go to GunDogSupply.com, search for Lewis dog boots, and then watch the video on how to put them on your dog. It works great. Your dog will prance around like crazy for about 5 minutes and then hunt just like normal.